Free in-flight Wi-Fi on American Airlines through Aug. 23

American Airlines wants passengers to get hooked on its in-flight Wi-Fi capabilities, so like a pusher in a schoolyard, it's doling out free samples.

Through Aug. 23, according to Jaunted.com, AA will give free in-flight Wi-Fi to customers who use the promo code AAWiFi76194A1.

The service is administered, as it is in most of the major airlines, by Gogo Inflight, which recently instituted a price tweak. To make it cheaper for people taking short flights or connections, reports Gadling, it's now possible to buy 24-hour access on any flight with GoGo Wi-Fi for $12.95.

Meanwhile, Virgin America dropped its price for short-haul flights (under 90 minutes, plus red-eyes) from $9.95 to $5.95. Flights longer than three hours, though, are $12.95.

Southwest Airlines is also slowly rolling out its in-flight Wi-Fi. Every day, it tweets the flight numbers of the ones that have it. That won't do you a lot of good, but it's a cute way to let customers know it means business when it comes to implementing this feature.

I wonder if the lowering prices and giveaways means that passengers aren't using the in-flight Wi-Fi in numbers that the airlines had hoped.

I know that I, for one, would rather hold off for the few hours I'm airborne. I'm actually grateful for the break from connectivity. The price cuts are welcome, but they'd have to go even lower to tempt me.